Irving Theater — Attraction in Indianapolis

Update 20230414: Saw Bobcat Goldthwait comedian show. Irving theater roof holes appeared to be repaired (yay) but seems everything else is the same. Maybe some minor renovations such as a replacement upstairs window but we didn’t notice the marquee front sign working at all (earlier visit it flickered sporadically). Employees cordial. A lot of people buying beverage buckets with multiple drinks, didn’t notice this available earlier visit. Doesn’t sell snacks, probably good idea to prevent the crawling pests. Bobcat’s opening act was very open about commenting on the theater’s aged condition and Indiana farmer stereotypes. Bobcat surpassed by saying he lives In Illinois after 30 California years. Had the crowd laughing easily but last third of act was a bit hard to follow as jokes / stories were a little obtuse but still entertaining. Crowd was harmless upper aged. The neighborhood has a handful of restaurants but also sad to see the nearby ice cream store permanently closed. So April the streets were fairly tame and quiet, wondering if summertimes will have rowdiness. But our visit to the area was uneventful up to 10 PM but we stayed on Washington Street exclusively.

Original review: This review is slightly dated, for the New Years Eve Heywood Banks performance at the Irving Theater December 2018. The Irving Theater has a very long and reworked history. The theater reminds me of a 1970's/80's old college campus alleyway music dive and you are amazed the place hasn't been demolished yet. Sort of what you might expect in old Broad Ripple in the 'days ago' where you crammed yourself with others into a dark dingy room. So we're standing outside in low 30-degree dark evening cold winter slightly breezy weather with a hint of possible rain in queue to enter. There's few streetlights and we're all trying to stay on the narrow sidewalk in front and building side. An example of the age of this theater is all of a sudden the patrons look up after standing for about 15 minutes to see and hear the frail building neon sign try to light up (a few of the letters) and as quick as it was on it burnt out (or old screw in style fuse breaker blew (?))! We had a good laugh. But realized once inside how dilapidated (yet historic) it is when noticing the ceiing rafters of multiple boards splintering and amazed not yet condemned. Another patron said a visit prior they could see the stars through the roof and on our night not, so a patched improvement? Well, the room was mostly dark and not that well lit before the Heywood Banks show and moreso during so you could make out some of the construction oddities but not all. We were fortunate to be seated immediately under the furnace vent, else wonder how cold a row or two away it might be. Largely rows of steel fold up chairs on an old theater floor, and some church pews in the back and a row along the sides. Did not go in search of the restroom(!) so no report on that. They had a beer/wine service (so another patron reported). Decorations included some type of decorated mannequin up on a shelf??? near the projector room wall opening that everyone was trying to determine what it represented.

Nonetheless, the place has odd character and is one to remmber for tale telling that you survived. Heywood Banks also made a covert comment about the condition of the venue but hey we really enjoyed the show and by the time it was over didn't revisit the building condition as much. If the building inside (and out) were better lit we may have been more concerned honestly but, we'll leave it up to the inspectors to decide.

All in all, a place to visit at least once because who knows the longevity of the place, maybe it is or should be a historical landmark should it continue to stand...

Absolutely the WORST theater experience we've ever had. First off, the show we attended was way oversold. The place was so crowded with people, hardly anyone could move and none of us could even see the stage over all of the heads in front of us. There was almost no seating for anyone in attendance... only people who bought tickets first and shelled out extra money got seats at the few tables on the floor. The standard tickets we purchased were NOT cheap, so we figured we'd have a seat somewhere in the place, even if it was somewhere in the back of the theater. My husband has major medical problems with his back, so we asked the staff if he could use one of the extra chairs hanging on a rack in plain sight. The staff members said no and didn't give a reason. What a way to treat your paying customers! We later discovered that there were hard, uncomfortable benches along the wall for those who wanted to listen to the show but not see a single thing on stage.

Speaking of which, the sound system in this theater is SO atrocious, we couldn't understand what anyone on stage was saying. It was VERY loud at times (so loud I had to dig out my earplugs, and this was a COMEDY show, not a music show), but so muffled that the performers' words were impossible to make out. There was extremely loud and startling feedback coming from the microphone throughout the performance.

To make it all worse, the audience was the worst-behaving audience I have ever witnessed. An incredible amount of people were so drunk they could have been charged with public intoxication. Many people were shouting obscenities and stupid jokes at the stage, making it even harder to understand what was going on with the performance. We were unfortunately stuck standing near the bar, where the staff members were yelling loud enough to block out what little we could hear from the stage.

And while this is normally not something that bothers me, the theater itself has not been maintained well. Some of the walls looked like they were falling apart and were likely ridden with mold.

I am shocked that this theater has received the decent ratings and reviews it has. We were so miserable, we left the theater after 15 minutes and went to Jockamos, where the friendly staff saved our night. I wanted to ask for a refund, but I had no hope of receiving one after witnessing the way the Irving Theater's staff treats its customers. We will absolutely NEVER go back to this venue, no matter who...

It had been a long time since I had been there but I want to see a concert . I was kind of offset by how unkept ,like a garage it was but then I thought the music we're seeing and this is the place is like this as where they started out so it's kind of like taking a trip back to the beginnings. the bands I saw were Deicide, Inhuman Condition and Kataclysm. Some good death metal and like a warehouse garage that wasn't real big. Around a 100 people there. Not super loud. The sound was OK , I don't know if it's the folks running sound or just the building layout or both that made it not have the...